The Japanese Socialists and Anarchists in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 1900 to 1910

The purpose of this essay is to outline the activities of the Japanese socialists and anarchist in the San Francisco Bay area, mainly frorn 1900 to 1910. I focus especially on the activities of the Social Revolutionary Party established in 1906 and supported by Koᵗoku Shusui, a farnous Japanese socialist and anarchist. Koᵗoku is a major figure in the history of political thought and many studies have been written about him. However, there are few studies about his followers in the U. S. Most of these people are unknown. In this paper, using such sources as contemporary newspaper and magazine articles as well as the Japanese government reports about the, I will show how their activities were lirnited and brief because of I wish to thank Karen Lee Callahan for assistance in editing this article. 1 In this paper, I do not distinguish socialists from anarchists. This is because very few Japanese dared to call themselves anarchists due to their fear of oppression by the government. Even in Koᵗoku's case, the number of times he dared to call himself an anarchist was limited. 2 See Zaibei shakaishugisha muselfushugisha enkaku (The Japanese governmental report about Japanese socialists and anarchists in the U. S. ) (hereafter Zaibei enkaku) (Shakai bunko so"sho, Kashiwa Shob, 1964). At the front page, it is sealed confidential. Matsuo Shoⁱchi, "Small history about Japanese socialists in the U S " Ibid. , pp. 17-29. Shakaishugisha muselfushugisha jinbutsu kenkyu" shiry6 (1) (Shakaibunko so sho 7, Kashiwa Shobo, 1964). The Japanese Socialists and Anarchists 2 (127) in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 1900 to 1910 (Ohara) two difficulties. One difficulty was the Anti-Japanese exclusion movement, which was caused by the rapid increase in the nurnber of Japanese immigrants to the U. S. This exclusion problem burdened both Japanese socialists and Arnerican socialists with a double dilemma. The other difficulty was the increase in control and regulation by both the U. S. and the Japanese governments in the early 1900s. These two difficulties limited the activities of these people to a brief period. However, through their activities we can observe the transition underway in American society in the early 20th century. I will survey the Japanese immigrants to the U. S. and the background to this history first. Next, I will focus on the activities of the Japanese socialists and anarchists in San Francisco before Koᵗoku's visit. Third, I will consider how Koᵗoku influenced Japanese socialists and anarchists in the San Francisco Bay area and follow their activities. Then I will describe the difficulties they encountered in their activities. Part I: The Japanese Immigrants tO the U. S. After the regulation of Chinese immigrants in 1882 (the Chinese Exclusion Act), the number of Japanese immigrants to the U. S. A. increased drastically. According to the U. S. Census, the number of Japanese in California was only 86 in 1880. Then it leaped to 1, 147 in 1890, 10, 151 in 1900 and 41, 356 in 1916. There was a rush to immigrate 3 This rapid increase in the number of Japanese immigrants caused an anti-Japanese exclusion movement in the U. S. , and led to restrictions. From early in 1905 the San Francisco Chronicle began to publish anti-Japanese articles, and a San Francisco school board segregation order was carried out after the San Francisco earthquake in 1906.